The present invention relates to a point locating apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a point locating apparatus which provides a high degree of precision in locating the point or object to be located.
There has been a need for a means of locating objects at reoccuring, but infrequent, intervals. For example, heating oil deliverymen often have a problem in locating the oil fill pipe. This problem may occur at any time due to the lack of familiarity of the deliveryman with the particular premises and the fact that the oil fill pipe may be obscured from view by various things such as shubbery and high grass. However, the problem is particularly acute during the fall and winter months when it may be obscured by leaves on the ground, snow, and ice.
The present invention provides apparatus for relocating a point on subsequent occasions for all types of uses. For example, the apparatus of the present invention may be used to locate gas and water controls or connections. The present invention may also be used to locate the point at which objects are buried, such as the opening in a septic tank cover which may have to be located periodically in order to pump sludge. The present invention may be used in any application where the location of the object is originally known, and must be located at a later date with precision.
Certain mechanical devices have been known in the past to try to solve this problem. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,770,042 and 2,068,822 both disclose compasses provided with tape measures. The compases are mounted on a structure or fixed point. The compasses are set to a desired angle, and the distance measured to the point. However, these have been fairly inexact in that they only provide a bearing in a single plane. The point to be located requires directional information in two orthogonal directions. The prior art devices provide positioning information only where the point to be located is in the same plane as the mounting position. Even then, the tape measure tends to bend and flex, thereby failing to provide a precise locating of the point to be located, even if the object to be located were in the same plane as the compass. Further, these prior art devices required the maintaining of a record of the bearing angle and distance to the object to be located. If this information were removed, lost or otherwise unavailable, the apparatus was of no assistance in locating the object.